| Summary: | Forward
When most people think of the Caribbean they think of tropical paradises, with pristine beaches and yearlong sun; the perfect holiday destination. What they do not realise is that many of the Caribbean Islands are plagued by high levels of tourism penetration and development characteristic of mass tourism. I come from one such island. High rises abound the once beautiful coast, low cost stores line the town streets, filled with bargain seeking tourists. I am well aware of the detrimental effects of this type of tourism and throughout my Masters course at the University of Nottingham, have been informed about many of the possible factors needed for the sustainable development of a tourist destination. Bonaire is one of the last islands in the Caribbean that has not been pillaged by high pressure tourism. Even though tourism has existed on the island for about 40 years, development has not been very intense. Over the last few years there has been much discussion on St. Martin, my island, in the local media about Bonaire and its tourism development. This sparked my curiosity for Bonaire and soon learned that they were pursuing Sustainable Tourism Development. This is where the idea came from to base this dissertation on the Government involvement in the development of sustainable tourism on Bonaire. My ultimate goal is to evaluate the effectiveness of Bonaire's government participation in the sustainable development of the island in order to, one day, perhaps use the lessons learned from Bonaire.
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